After the first Spiess family reunion in 1994, I began to compile my ‘family
tree’. Little did I know at that time what a fascinating hobby I was
beginning! I started asking family members about birth and death dates, and I
must thank my aunts Betty Pego and Audrey Spiess for their patience with my many
inquiries!

In 1996 I went to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and was
amazed by the information contained in this building. The first piece of
information I found was the immigration card for Friedrich Spiess, leading to
the microfilm containing the original ship manifest from their journey from
Romania to Antwerpen Belguim, across the ocean to New York, then on to North
Dakota.

Since than, I have been back to Salt Lake several times, I have been to the
Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, and to the North Dakota History Center
in Bismarck. Each trip I make, I find another piece of this fascinating,
ongoing, puzzle.

This is by no means a complete family history. It’s main purpose is to
share with my family the research I have done to this point. I’m certain there
will be revisions in the future!

Spiess is clearly a German name, but it is not apparent to me what part of
Germany our line originates from. The earliest Spiesses I have found were from
Romania, although at the time our ancestors lived there, Romania was part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire and wasn’t granted independence until 1918.

According to Freeda Spiess McMahon’s bible, Frederich Spiess and
Ecaterina (Kate)
Trollenberg were married in Tulcea, Dobrudscha, Romania, and my grandfather,
Wilhelmus (William) was also born there, as stated in his service records. Fred’s
mother, Anna Putz Spiess was born in Bukowina, Austria; now split between
Romania, Ukraine and Moldova. So you see, research is difficult because many of
the towns and place names are either changed, or no longer exist!

The eighteen and nineteenth centuries saw a lot of Germanic emigration into
Eastern Europe. Germans came from three distinct areas: Swabians and Palatines,
from what is now Baden-Württemberg and Rheinland-Pfalz, in southwest Germany;
German Bohemians, from the Bohemian Forest (Böhmerwald), now in the Czech
Republic; and Zipsers, from the Zips mountains, now Spis county, Slovakia. Part
of this emigration was to Hungary where the 150-year Turkish occupation was
gradually ended around 1700 and the Austrian emperors encouraged settlers of
many nationalities to make empty villages productive again. The other part of
the German expansion into Russia and outlying areas of Romania
was at the end of the 1700s as a result of a general increase in European
population.

After its defeat by Prussia in 1867, the Austrian Empire was reorganized as
the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary and Translyvania was incorporated into
Hungary, against the will of the Romanians, who formed over seventy percent of
the population. Until 1918, the history of Transylvania was marked by the
Romanian struggle for unification with the Romanian Kingdom. During this period,
as a result of ethnic and economic repression, Romanians began to emigrate to
the United States and Canada in search of economic opportunity and political
liberty.

I have found references to Spiesses in Liebling; a small village that was a
part of the former Banat of the Hungarian Empire, but I have not been able to
tie these Spiesses with our known ancestors. Since the end of World War I and
the resulting border changes, Liebling has been within the nation of Romania. It
is located about 20 kilometers south of the Romania city of Temosara.

There are also references to Spiesses in other German settlement areas in
Romania; the Bukowina (in the Northeast), Dobrudscha (Romanian Dobrogea), on the
Black Sea, and in Bessarabia, the easternmost strip of Romania, part of which is
now in Ukraine.

Access to Romanian records remains rather difficult, however I believe
(hope!) this is slowly changing.

The village of Casselman, North Dakota was founded in 1896
when the Soo Line Railroad was built through the northeastern part of the
county. Only a house occupied by Patrick Walsh marked the townsite when the
first settlers made their way into the area. One of these early settlers was our
great uncle Philipp Putz, Anna Putz Spiess’ brother. At that time, Casselman
was part of McLean County. It was incorporated as a city in 1910 and is the
oldest town in what is now Sheridan County.

Due to confusion with mail addressed to Casselton in Cass
County, the name was changed to Martin, after William Leslie Martin, a railroad
man.

Among the earliest settlers to arrive were Philipp Putz,
and his sons Fred and Frank, Jacob Rust, Sr. and Sam Gaul. These people arrived
from Canada in 1896. The Henry Fiesels, Gottleib Kalks, Michelsons, Baumanns, and the Helms
(Fred's Spiess' uncle through marriage) in
arrived 1897. Most of the families were large and predominately German.

Christ Heer settled in Martin about this time and opened
the first store in 1897. This was a general merchandise store that burned down in
1940. The Moellendorf brothers opened another store in the early 1900’s. An
old building moved from Harvey served as the butcher ship. The Fiesels and
Nickolauses started a hardware store, selling furniture, stoves, harnesses,
kitchenware, guns, and all the necessities needed by early pioneers. Our great
grandfather Flamme opened a livery around this same time.

The Putzes were very prominent in Martin, and Philipp,
his second wife Caroline, Philipp’s son Fred, and Rosina Putz are among
the 18 charter members of the Martin Baptist Church. Philipp is buried in the
Martin Baptist Cemetery. Many of their decendents still live in Martin today. I
have met one of our Putz cousins, Fay Jordeans, from North Carolina via the
internet, and also in person! Faye has been tremendously helpful with the Putz
line.

In 1927 about twenty businesses remained in the town, and
by 1930, the population again rose to 325. But in later years, many of the
businesses closed their doors. Some were destroyed by fire and never were
rebuilt. The present population is about 120, and some businesses remain. A
combined grocery store and service station, post office, bar, machinery repair
service, grain elevator, and BobCats, Inc., a small manufacturing plant located
in the building which once was the school. Our Flamme family home was torn down
in 1996.

(From Growing with Pride….The Harvey, ND Area 75th
anniversary book)

The Migration Path of our
Spiesses

From the various sources I have located,
here is how the Spiesses migrated: